cxxxvi 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



potentates put together, from the days of 

 Old Harry down to the present time. 



If the reader be not already tired with a 

 biography little interesting to any but the 

 writer of it, I would solicit his attention to 

 a few remarks on our new mode of travelling. 



Steam is now in general use, both on land 

 and water. It transports us with such velocity 

 from place to place, that we may actually fancy 

 ourselves in full possession of the long-wished- 

 for wings of Daedalus, 



" Geminas opifex libravit in alas 



Ipse suum corpus." 



Let us, however, always bear in mind, that 

 this far-famed aerial rover taught mischievous 

 movements to his child, — " damnosas erudit 

 artes ; " and that our own invention, if not 

 worked with consummate skill and prudence, 

 may burst asunder when we least expect it, 

 and leave us dead on the road, or, like Icarus 

 of old, to perish in the water. 



When every hope of life has fled, how we 

 should hail with ecstasy the arrival of a potent 

 friend to save us ! This friend is Macintosh's 



